Laura Pettit Blog Post #1

            In Barringer’s article on race and empire in Pre-Raphaelite art, I found William Holman Hunt’s comment on the connection between artists and ethnographers particularly interesting. To paraphrase, his comment was that artists should be like ethnographers, bringing knowledge about the world back home. Barringer identifies this distinction as a strict opposition between the West and the East. As an anthropology major, it is interesting to see these views portrayed in art, as so many anthropologists mirrored the view of Hunt and the majority of the British during colonial rule in the nineteenth century. For example, Malinowski, a British Anthropologist, did his fieldwork in the Trobriand in the early 20th century. Like Hunt, his diary was published and his true colors were exposed as racist and sexist. After these feelings were exposed, his credibility is what came into question. For the anthropologist, most disregard Malinowski as his diary proved him to be unhappy and his judgement skewed. It is difficult to trust someone’s objective study when they have these ideas that the natives are ‘primitive’ and ‘savage’. Hunt was also frightened by being in a new place, and becoming the foreigner. However, in the case of Hunt it only seemed to strengthen the symbolism of the painting. Although Hunt may not be seen as an ethnographer and bringing the knowledge of a different culture to England, his painting has distinct characteristics that can show some of the views of this time.

            For Hunt, his perception of the East can be seen in the picture "The Lantern Maker’s Courtship". Barringer notes the laziness of the lantern maker, and the idea of the exotic and the sensual. However, as Barringer also points out, the figure that stands out in the background is a British man with a top hat. For Barringer, it is Hunt’s way of putting his British nationality in the painting. For me, I see this man as the overbearing, violent influence of the British on the East. As a man shies away in fear, it seems like his presence is unwanted and overbearing. Colonialism was violent and dark, and probably for Hunt it had a different meaning within the painting as he felt superior to the people of Cairo. I find a connection between this painting and "Heart of Darkness" by Conrad. The British man is like this darkness, a version of Kurtz. As the novel deals with the evil of colonial rule, The Lantern Maker’s Courtship also appears to show the same colonial rule, but rather in a different light.